Construction sites require a wide variety of tools, equipment, and machinery ranging from massive cranes whose booms extend skyward many stories to common tools that can be easily carried on a tool belt and which can be found in most residential homes, businesses and commercial establishments. Aside from the vehicular-type machinery—cranes, dump trucks, skid loaders, bobcats, graders, backhoes, excavators, etc.,—many of the other types of tools and equipment are either gas or electric powered. Air powered tools can include nailers and sanders while electric powered tools the various types of saws and hammer drills.
However, many construction sites are not located near readily available electric power source such as a nearby service pole that requires service from the local electric company to make usable for the contractor, construction company and work crew. Indeed, many homes, getaways, cabins, storage barns, etc., are far off the beaten path. In addition, in today's world more than ever time is money, and with the rise in the cost of construction and building materials, no contractor wants his/her crew to arrive at a construction site and be rendered idle because of a lack of available power to power even the most basic of tools and equipment. Since numerous costs are being incurred even when the crew is idle at the construction site, a way must be found to provide power at the construction prior to the power company arriving and hard wiring a service pole or poles. Thus, portable generators have been designed for large-scale construction, but most construction is not large scale, and thus such portable generators are not always practical both for reasons of cost and the constant din they produce when in operation. Therefore, it is desirable to design portable generator-type carts or dolleys that are practical for all types of construction sites, and especially adaptable and maneuverable on and about smaller scale construction sites.
For example, various designs for carts that carry or support compressors and generators include the Frank design patent (U.S. design patent 418,809), the Kristiansen et al. design patent (U.S. design patent 444,279 S), the Graber et al. design patent (U.S. design patent 450,061 S), the Imai design patent (U.S. design patent 494,929 S), and the Imai design patent (U.S. design patent 489,327 S).
In addition the Graig et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,643 B1) discloses a cart frame generator pulled by hand that includes a cart-type frame assembly for transporting the generator and in which a partial cage extends about the generator.
The Silvestro patent (U.S. Pat. No. 7,098,424 B2) discloses a self-contained integrated welder/generator and compressor wherein a housing partially protects the aforementioned elements.
Nonetheless, despite the ingenuity of the above devices, there remains a need for a portable cart capable of powering air and electric tools on job sites that haven't yet been hard wired.